Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of Ashling Murphy. It has been a while since her death. It is horrendous that when Deputies discuss this shocking event they bring into question the role of the education system in this country. They bring into question the role of the curriculum, the teachers and the people who have been delivering education in this country. There is no link between the two and efforts to make a link between that shocking event and the education system is absolutely wrong. I listened to the debates when they happened a while ago. I refused to get involved because I did not want to politicise that shocking event in any way. It is an awful pity that it is still being done in the Dáil.

We live in a pluralist republic. In a pluralist republic Catholic, Protestant and dissenter should be able to be who they are to their full extent without fear or favour from the State. Parents should be able to select the education system they want for their children. No two children are the same. The idea we should create a uniform education system to replicate the uniform education system of the 1950s, except with a different ethos, is absolutely wrong. Pluralism should be the goal of this Republic.

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